Exploring Ecumenism

On God's Relationship with Matter

We know very little about consciousness although, according to Martin in Does It Matter?, it should be possible to study it using scientific methods.  This would be through collection and comparison of accounts of experiences.  Wesley, according to Runyon's The New Creation(page 72f), understood experience to be important in spiritual matters.  He did not rule out an empirical approach to spiritual matters because accounts of experiences can be studied.

Purpose not Design

I have already argued God is no designer.  In a fascinating sequence starting on page 197, Martin shows how Dawkins smuggles a purposeful intelligence into the evolutionary process.  In The Blind Watchmaker Dawkins calculates the chances of producing haemoglobin by the random processes of evolution are 1 in 10¹⁵⁰.  But he takes a 'neat side-step' around this problem.

The Case Against Creationism

One of the entertaining dimensions of the atheist onslaught against Christianity is that it is an unwinnable argument.  Either they address people like me who believe in evolution (and depart from the atheist position on other points that don't seem to be debated) ... (apparently I'm unintentionally being fooled by fundamentalists because they are the true representatives of Christianity - so much for solidarity amongst radicals!) ... or else they address fundamentalists who will never be persuaded by science on principle.

Does Evolution have a Purpose?

I have already suggested that although design is not involved in evolution, this does not rule out purpose. 

1. I understand by design a detailed plan, drawn up before the proposed work is done.  God the designer is equivalent to the traditional Calvinist God, who created everything at the beginning, with no room for error.  Is it necessarily the case that God's purpose is best served by such an inflexible approach to creation?  Theologically it opens up several problems, such as why does a good (and absolute) creator allow suffering?  The answer must boil down to: it depends upon what God is trying to achieve.

The Case Against Materialism

According to his autobiography, Bertrand Russell's grandmother used to say, 'What is mind?  No matter.  What is matter?  Never mind.'

Martin in Does it Matter? constructs a convincing argument against the materialist view of the universe.  Materialism is a an immensely important and successful philosophy.  If to abandon a materialist worldview would be to embrace a supernatural worldview I would see that as a major step backwards for humanity.  Not least because there are some very moving materialist readings of scripture, including the only convincing account of Jesus walking on water that I know of.

Can Computers Evolve?

Thinking about artificial intelligence has led me to ask whether it is possible for computers to evolve.  I don't think they can.  The implications for artificial intelligence will be that the route by which humanity arrived at self-awareness is closed to computers.

God does not Design Things

I have already written about the first chapter of Genesis.  What is fascinating about these verses is the idea that God has to look to see it is good.  If God is supposed to be perfect in everything God does, why does God have to look? 

What do we mean by Design?

Let me be clear from the start: I do not believe in creationism or intelligent design.  The latter I think is a particularly deceptive doctrine and theologically both are deeply flawed.  The problem is with the concept of design.

Non-Human Conversations

In an earlier post, I mentioned in passing the possibility of conversations without human involvement.  At this stage I cannot follow this theme as far as I would like, as I have more issues to explore first, but it might be helpful to indicate something of what I mean.

Nothing Evolves on its Own

Survival of the Fittest focuses on the evolution of single species.  Competition is expressed in terms of what happens within each species.  The fittest individuals survive to breed.  Relationships with other species are of interest solely in terms of any influence they have upon natural selection within a particular species.  So if we focus on rabbits their survival might depend upon foxes and grass and a few other species but the focus is on rabbits bravely evolving away.